WASHINGTON -- People across America are commemorating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech about racial equality in America.

The country has come a long way since then, re-electing its first African-American president.

On Wednesday, thousands are marking the event on the National Mall as President Barack Obama makes a speech at the Lincoln Memorial. Watch LIVE @ 3:05 p.m. EST, streamed from CBNNews.com.

CBN News's Jennifer Wishon spoke with three generations of the King family in Georgia to see if "the dream" has been realized.

"Many think that this means the dream has been realized. It has not been realized, but we are on the way," Martin Luther King's niece, Alveda King, told CBN News.

In Atlanta, a new generation of Americans marked the anniversary at the reflecting pool around King's tomb.

The civil rights leader's youngest daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, said God is calling us to carry on that dream.

"God is calling us to a higher plane no matter who we are, no matter if we are Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, White American, whether we are from any country in this world. Our destinies are tied together," she said.

Dr. King's sister, Naomi Ruth Barber King, actually attended the March on Washington 50 years ago. She said she'll never forget how far we've come as a country.

"It was truly an experience I will never ever forget," she told CBN News. "Just being there and looking out for that sea of people over 250,000 strong or more at that water brought back to me many of my spiritual values." From birth it seemed Dr. King was destined to become a Christian minister.

He was the son and grandson of Baptist preachers. At age 19, he was ordained as a minister and later became the co-pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta alongside his father.

Today, the King family carries on their family legacy and hopes the next 50 years will be even more successful.